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Skully has crashed and burned

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Re: Skully has crashed and burned

#21

Post by danso »

Its crowdfunding page, on Indiegogo, is a bit bizarre to me:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/skully-ar-1-the-world-s-s...

1,940 backers for $2.44 million, and only 24 comments? For a project with this many backers with this much skin in the game, comments usually number in the hundreds (if not thousands), especially as it becomes apparent that the campaign will miss its estimated delivery dates. Even though Skully seems to have its own website and support forum, the campaign landing page is still where you have "noisy" backers (i.e. people who frequently back products enough that the site becomes a social network for them).

Re: Skully has crashed and burned

#22

Post by cdibona »

mikestew wrote: post #11
ansible wrote: post #4

I recently installed a Sena BT system for my helmet. And I'm fairly pleased with it. It would be nice to have a HUD for driving directions, but relying on just the voice prompts is usually sufficient. The Skully design is neat, but I don't see a big enough market for it.

The Skully design is neat, but I don't see a big enough market for it. How much of a market could there possibly be for a $1500 helmet? I shudder at the thought of a $700 Shuberth hitting the ground. I consider a helmet to be disposable as well. How disposable is a $1500 helmet? And are you a Shoei head or an Arai? IOW, will this helmet even fit my style of head, or is it going to leave hotspots after a few hours? Co…

The article says that there were 3000 units pre-ordered. That's a fair amount of cash, but spinning up a hardware line where there are real safety and fit questions at hand is not trivial. Maybe they would have been better off making something that would replace the visor on a popular model of helmet like a shoei.

Re: Skully has crashed and burned

#23

Post by jrochkind1 »

muzz wrote: post #20
richardwhiuk wrote: post #2

How did payments work for this? In the UK - I don't know about the US where this was presumably 'on sale' - you can issue a chargeback against the credit card company if a sale falls through in this manner.

Most of the time, credit cards are not charged until goods are shipped. In any case you can do a chargeback and are protected by the Fair Credit Billing Act: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Credit_Billing_Act

> Most of the time, credit cards are not charged until goods are shipped.

Not true.

Re: Skully has crashed and burned

#24

Post by whack »

"Weller ... and his brother were forced out of the company after investors disagreed with the LeSports deal he brought to the table, opting instead for an inside round. Another source familiar with the matter confirms his story that he brought in the LeSports deal but said Skully was rapidly running out of cash and it was down to the eleventh hour determining if the numbers added up.

Adding to that, we’ve been told the board thought Weller has been so difficult to deal with since leaving, they now don’t see the point in salvaging the company he started.

We’re told by a source inside the company that as of Monday, investors ... determined it was better to just shut the whole company down instead."

In what world is shutting down, a superior alternative to selling the company to LeSports for some cold hard cash?

Re: Skully has crashed and burned

#25

Post by cdibona »

So having used the recon line of products (which this is a spiritual cousin of) I can only say that these kinds of displays are kinda dodgy.

When skiing anything resembling challenging terrain, the stuff is bouncing around and my ability to focus universally across on the then 2nd gen recon displays was simply not possible. I'm a decent skier, but not that crazy and I ended up returning the smith io/x using the recon screen.

On a motorbike it'd be pretty intolerable, way more bumps and stuff, I'd think. Then you layer on the safety concerns... the very real question of what happens when someone crashes wearing one of these helmets (Will the display impact your eye? Will it stay far enough away to not do so? Will the battery cause any problems when wet or exposed to impact/air etc..) probably made insuring the company difficult, too.

I bet the other helmet makers are cutting/have cut deals with recon to repackage their stuff anyhow, so those that want this kind of crap in their FOV can get it.

Re: Skully has crashed and burned

#26

Post by bhouston »

whack wrote: post #24

"Weller ... and his brother were forced out of the company after investors disagreed with the LeSports deal he brought to the table, opting instead for an inside round. Another source familiar with the matter confirms his story that he brought in the LeSports deal but said Skully was rapidly running out of cash and it was down to the eleventh hour determining if the numbers added up. Adding to that, we’ve been told t…

The VCs are mad at Weller -- it sounds like a pissing match to teach Weller a lesson to do what the investors wanted or else.

Re: Skully has crashed and burned

#27

Post by sbierwagen »

a_small_island wrote: post #18

Skully has a few interesting glassdoor reviews: https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/SKULLY-Reviews-E1046917.ht...

Why does management always plant incredibly glowing fake reviews? At least do 3 stars, that would look more plausible than a 5 star review praising the CEO in a sea of 1 star reviews talking about how the CEO is burning investor money.

Re: Skully has crashed and burned

#28

Post by api »

a_small_island wrote: post #18

Skully has a few interesting glassdoor reviews: https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/SKULLY-Reviews-E1046917.ht...

"management is throwing away investors' money on hot cars, bikes, parties and travels etc (only for themselves of course)"

Can't comment on whether this is true in this case but I've seen it before and I always wonder how, and where are the investors, and aren't they paying attention, and ....?

Re: Skully has crashed and burned

#29

Post by danielhooper »

hkmurakami wrote: post #9
ChuckMcM wrote: post #3

For those of you going through this for the first time, this is what the loss of "loose money" feels like. For some it will feel "sudden" but it started last year. "Big name" startups were getting re-valued downward by their investors and founders trying to raise a series A or B kept getting "we would prefer to follow in this round, rather than lead it." I feel for the employees. One of my friends in the dot com bust…

I also feel for the junior developers being minted in droves from the various bootcamps across the country, but particularly in the SF Bay Area. Since we have it the hottest here, the pain will be the most acute as well when the downturn finally arrives in full force. Those who believed in the narrative that a 10 week developer bootcamp was the ticket to a good job in the "new era" will be in for a rude awakening. It…

What about all the tens of thousands of students that graduate with CS or related degrees every year?
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